


bigger than the distance in between us

by fleurmatisse



Series: west virginia, mountain mama [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: (if you squint), Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Light Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-19 18:24:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19138201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurmatisse/pseuds/fleurmatisse
Summary: Dean wants them to exist in the same place at the same time for more than a few days in a row. He doesn’t think that’s too much to ask.





	bigger than the distance in between us

**Author's Note:**

> this is part four of the west virginia, mountain mama series aka farm witch cas, so catch up on that before you read this. or don't. either way.

Cas always has work around the farm to be doing. Dean has known this since they started talking regularly; there’s always something new with the animals, or something old has fallen apart, or something can be improved and that current moment is the perfect time for it to be done. And it’s not like Dean is sitting around doing nothing all day. He has hunts and research and new parts of the bunker that seem to spring up on their own overnight to explore and catalogue. It’s just—ugh, no, it’s too mushy to even think about. 

Sam shoots him an annoyed look as he drops his chair back on all four legs and gets up, but he doesn’t follow it up with anything so Dean is safe for now as he leaves the motel room, keys in hand. He gets in the car but that’s as far as he gets before he breathes out in a harsh sigh and checks his phone. Still no messages. Cas had said he was going to be extra busy this week—not because of any farm chores but because Hilde’s daughter is visiting with her baby, who’s now nearing a year old. He promised to definitely call on Saturday, when Annie is back home, and if he still has energy in the evenings, he’ll call earlier. 

It’s only Tuesday, he hasn’t called since, and okay, fine. 

Dean misses him. 

It wouldn’t be so bad, he thinks, if they saw each other regularly, but it’s nearing a month and a half of only calls, with Dean missing half of them because of the hunts that are really starting to become a pain in the ass. If it wasn’t a nine hour drive and Cas didn’t have to be home every night and—it just sucks, is the thing. Dean wants them to exist in the same place at the same time for more than a few days in a row. He doesn’t think that’s too much to ask. 

Except that means one of them has to move, and he’s not well-versed in moving a veritable ark-full of animals, but he’s pretty sure he’d be the one pulling up roots. 

Leaving the bunker, leaving Sam. It’s not nearly as scary as it might have once been. But Cas has to want it, too, and that’s where the uncertainty lies.

He texts Sam to ask if he wants lunch and Sam says he’ll take a salad if Dean is going somewhere, which Dean decides is a very cooperative thing to say rather than a dig at the fact that he’s been sitting in his car for the past fifteen minutes. 

 

They get back to Kansas by Thursday afternoon. Dean’s sporting a fun new set of cuts and bruises thanks to getting dragged through part of a broken chain link fence, but they killed the ghouls and hey, that’s what matters, right? It’s way better than the time two tried to eat Sammy alive, that’s for sure. 

He’s just walking into his room, considering collapsing face first on the bed, when his phone buzzes in his pocket and keeps buzzing as he drops his bag on the dresser. He checks the ID and doesn’t bother to keep the grin off his face as he answers. 

“Hey, Cas.”

“Hello, Dean,” Cas says, sounding like he might be smiling, too, but in a much more reserved way. “Is this a good time?”

“We just got back to the bunker, so your timing is perfect, actually,” Dean says. He sits somewhat gingerly on the edge of the bed, holding his phone with his shoulder as he unties his boots. “Is everything okay?”

Cas hums, vaguely affirmative, and then he says, “Would you mind if I stopped by?”

“What, now?” Dean asks, pausing with his left boot half off. 

“Or later,” Cas says, “if now is too last minute.”

Dean kicks his boot off and glances down at himself to make sure he’s not wearing any extra bloodstains. There’s not much he can do about the scratches running down his arms. “Now is fine. I’m in my room.”

Cas hangs up, and in the next second the air in the room is crackling and Cas has appeared just inside the doorway. He looks tired, but he smiles and meets Dean halfway with a hug that verges on vertical cuddling. Dean can’t say he minds in the least, tucking his face into Cas’ hair and breathing him in. 

“Babies are very loud,” Cas says, muffled by Dean’s shoulder. Dean laughs. Cas turns his face toward Dean’s neck, arms tightening around Dean’s middle, and lets out an impressive sigh for someone who forgets to breathe half the time. “I missed you.”

“Me too,” Dean says. 

When they finally separate, Cas glances around the room like he expects to find changes and has the beginnings of a frown when everything remains the same. Dean is about to ask, but Cas takes notice of Dean’s injuries first, hovering a hand over the outside of his right arm. 

“Can I?” he asks. Dean considers how annoying it’s going to be when the scabs start catching on everything and nods. Cas’ hand lands gently against him, flaring white as warmth travels along the red lines in his skin. It’s still a strange feeling, but not as sudden or disarming as the first time Cas had healed him, way back when they were escaping other Angels. When he’s done, there’s no sign of any wounds. His hand travels up to Dean’s face for an instant, thumb stroking across his cheek, and then he sits on Dean’s bed. “How was your hunt?”

Dean drops next to him and groans as he lies back. “Long.”

Cas looks sympathetic as Dean complains in greater detail, eventually drifting to a horizontal position. He turns on his side and plays with Dean’s hair, almost definitely making it stick out at all angles because he thinks it’s funny that Dean tries to make it look a certain way. Dean runs out of ways to say ghouls are disgusting around the same time Cas yawns. 

Dean frowns. “Are you okay?”

Cas blinks at him, suspiciously slow. “I’m fine.”

Dean frowns at him some more and catches him stifling another yawn. “You’re falling asleep.”

“I’m not,” Cas says, shoulders shifting into something defensive.

“You are,” Dean says. He should be worried, he thinks distantly. Cas doesn’t need to sleep with his grace; something could be wrong. Instead he finds himself delighted. “Did you come here to take a nap?”

Cas narrows his eyes. “I came here to see you. I can’t recall why I wanted to in the first place,” he adds when Dean remains openly skeptical. 

“My rugged good looks,” Dean says, blue steel-ing at him. Cas puts a hand on his face and pushes it away. Dean laughs and rolls to wrap an arm around him, dropping obnoxiously noisy kisses across his face. Cas grabs his head and holds it in place, eyebrows stern even though his mouth is twitching. He squishes Dean’s cheeks forward so his lips pucker. Dean crosses his eyes, playing up the way his lips don’t touch when he says, “Bus driver, open the door.”

Cas smiles then and kisses his still-puckered lips. Dean does his best to bite him, but Cas is quicker, laughing as he reels back, only holding Dean long enough to get away. Dean chases him, intending to kiss him senseless, but Cas puts a hand on his chest around the same time Dean hears footsteps coming down the hall. He sits up in time for Sam to stop in the doorway. 

“Oh, hey, Cas,” Sam says, sounding relieved. 

“Hello, Sam,” Cas says, still lying down. 

“There was a weird error from the computer,” Sam says before Dean can ask what he wants, “but I guess it was just you.”

“Sorry to worry you,” Cas says. 

“It was more strange than anything,” Sam says, probably gearing up to explain just what, exactly the error meant and how Cas must have caused it. Dean tries to communicate with his face that he would really like Sam to leave now, which works judging by the way Sam’s eyebrows shoot up when he glances at him. For once he acquiesces. “Good seeing you, Cas.”

Cas waves, and as Sam leaves, the door drifts shut on its own, closing with a gentle click. 

“And where was that ability the last time Sam walked in on us?” Dean asks. 

Cas pulls him down by the collar of his shirt, presses a kiss to the corner of Dean’s mouth. Amused, he says, “I was a little preoccupied at the time.”

Dean hears the lock click and decides bickering can wait. 

 

The food in the bunker has all spoiled, so Dean drags Cas out to the grocery store with him; even if he’d have rather stayed in bed, he could feel himself getting antsy and maybe a little hungry and he wants to eat something that isn’t wrapped in plastic. 

Cas carries a basket that Dean fills and then goes to get a cart when Dean admits he’s only halfway through his mental list. He’s not intending to leave the bunker for a while, not for a hunt, at least, so he can stock up a little more than usual. He keeps shopping while Cas is gone, and Cas finds him with no issue. Dean had asked about that once when he forgot to tell Cas which street he was waiting on in Lebanon and Cas appeared in front of him anyway; Cas had said it was like tuning into a radio channel except the frequency was just Dean. 

When they get back, Cas helps put things away, by taking them out of the bags and letting Dean decide exactly where they should go. He helps with dinner in much the same way, observing from the table and talking about the visit with Annie while Dean chops and sautées and spends a little too much time turned around looking at Cas. Sam drifts in once the smell of food has reached wherever he was in the bunker, and Cas engages him in conversation while Dean finishes everything up. 

It’s nice, Dean thinks, having Cas here for longer than a few hours, but he can’t help asking after he sits down with a plate, “Do you have to go soon?”

Cas looks up from the napkin he’s been folding into an accordion. “Linda offered to watch the house for the night. Apparently I looked ‘terrible’ and ‘needed a break before I scared the baby.’”

Dean smiles at the air quotes, given haltingly, and mostly listens while Cas and Sam catch up. 

 

Going to bed with Cas is something Dean has done plenty of times before, though mostly Cas is humoring him by actually lying down and waiting for him to fall asleep to either go back to West Virginia or to do something more stimulating than watching Dean sleep. This time, Cas is the one fading fast, and Dean guides him back to his bedroom after declaring the dishes were  _ done enough _ . 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Dean asks as Cas drops on top of the covers and closes his eyes.

Cas hums. “I put up extra protections for the baby. Drains my grace.”

Meaning he was already running on low power before he jumped.

“Cas,” Dean chides.

“Dean,” Cas mumbles back.

Dean shakes his head, takes off Cas’ shoes, and says, “At least get under the covers.”

 

Dean wakes up too early with Cas wrapped around his back. He’s remembering to breathe, which Dean appreciates (he’d woken up once with Cas still in bed and had a moment of panic because there’s really no way, sometimes, to tell if Cas is alive, and Cas had apologized and apparently remembered the incident), and when Dean shifts, his arm tightens across Dean’s chest. Dean grabs his hand from over his heart and pulls it up to kiss his palm.

“It’s early,” Cas mumbles into the back of his neck.

“Someone wanted to go to bed early,” Dean says, rolling over to face him. It’s too dark to really see, but he can feel Cas looking at him, bringing a hand up to trace his face with gentle fingers. Dean closes his eyes again and sighs when Cas starts recharting his fingers’ course with even gentler kisses. This is what he wants. To wake up and have quiet moments with Cas, to start and end their days in the same place, to make dinner while Cas simply shares the room with him. 

He says as much, keeping his eyes closed like that’ll stop it from hurting if Cas doesn’t agree.

Cas finds his hand and holds it. “I’d like that,” Cas says, and stops.

“But the animals,” Dean guesses.

“It wouldn’t be fair to move them again,” Cas says.

Dean had been expecting that. He opens his eyes for a second, wishing he could see more than the vague shadow of Cas in front of him, and says, “I could come to you.”

Cas shifts, drifting a little further away. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking,” Dean says. “I’m offering.”

“This is your home.”

“I know,” Dean says.

“And Sam,” Cas starts.

“I know,” Dean repeats. Cas is quiet for a while. Dean listens to him breathing and wants to take it all back.

“What would you do?” Cas asks, and then clarifies, “In Bubbling Springs. Would you still be hunting?”

“I don’t know,” Dean says. He thinks about how aggravating the last hunt was, that every time Sam finds a case he dreads going. It’s a good way to wind up dead, not being in it wholeheartedly. “It’d be nice to take a break, at least. I’m sure I could find something to do. Help you with all your stuff.”

“You’re going to quit hunting to become a farmer.” Cas sounds like he’s smiling.

“Maybe,” Dean says. “Or maybe I’ll get a real job. They’ve got those in West Virginia, right?”

Cas scoffs but he gets closer again. “I certainly wouldn’t know.”

Dean considers whether he wants to kiss him or get a more definitive answer. “So, what do you think? Bad idea?”

“You getting a real job?” Cas says, leaning his forehead against Dean’s. 

“Me in Bubbling Springs,” Dean says, barely resisting the urge to call him a smartass.

Cas hums. “I think you should talk to Sam about it,” he says. “But I have no objections.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> hey spn fandom it's been a hot minute. here is my latest offering.  
> thanks to my phone's shuffle for once again coming through with a song i can use for a title. on this particular occasion it is _proof_ by paramore.  
> and thank _you_ , reader, for making it all the way to the end note.


End file.
